With our next trip to Maui now less than 3 weeks away, I’ve been spending even more time thinking about all the things we’re looking forward to when we get back to the Valley Isle. This is the first post in a short mini-series this week, Looking Foward To…
The Cliff Dive Ceremony at Black Rock
While not the most elaborate thing to witness on Maui, the nightly Cliff Dive Ceremony at Black Rock on the grounds of the Sheraton Maui Resort is something special for us. For starters, it is part of our arrival tradition, a little something that we do to celebrate our return to the islands. That, in itself, makes it something to look forward to.
On that first night, after all the travelling and stress involved with making the trip from Chicago to Maui, listening to the chants and watching the ceremony from the poolside bar at the Sheraton is the offical “Welcome Back” moment. As far as the chant goes, I actually have a version of it on one of my Hapa CDs, so whenever I start missing this too much, I close my eyes, take a listen and pretend.
We’ll also see the cliff dive ceremony a number of other times during our trip. Aside from the legend of Ka’anapali and the story behind Pu’u Keka’a (shown below), this event also has other significance in our eyes. The fact that it occurs at sunset is one of them; let alone taking place on one of the best places to see a sunset, West Maui. It marks the end of what is always an amazing day on Maui, as well as greeting in the promise of yet another wonderful night on the islands. Knowing that in two short hours after the ceremony, the beach will be about as clear as the night skies above, giving way to the peacefulness of the ocean waves hitting the beach and gazing at a star-filled sky is almost like feeling 7 yrs old again on Christmas Eve.
I look forward to seeing the crowds gather on Ka’anapali Beach just before the ceremony, filling up with people that are seeing it for the first time. Some of them are families with young keiki, others are just couples in love, celebrating their honeymoon perhaps. Everyone trying to get a picture in front of the sun as it escapes behind the cliff, and the sound of camera shutters firing when the Hawaiian warrior makes his faithful leap into the water below. There are just so many things of this that I can still remember so cleary.
Speaking of cameras, I’m also looking forward to enjoying the ceremony this year without a camera in my hand. After these past few trips, I’m pretty happy with my photographs of this event, which means I can take it all in as we do that first evening on Maui. That will be nice.
I’ll leave you with a few more photos of the cliff dive that I’ve taken, as well as a few other links that can give you more information about it. Now if you excuse me, I need to track down that chant on my iPod again. 
Mahalo.
– Kris
Related Links
- Black Rock Cliff Dive – Activities Section
- Arrival Day Travel Tradition
- Sunday Photo: Black Rock
- Black Rock Photos – Our Photo Gallery
- Cliff Dive Ceremony – Sheraton Maui Resort page
Tags: aloha09, Black Rock, Kaanapali, photos, Sheraton
